ORCL Slips 3%: FYQ1 EPS Beats; Q2 View Misses

By Tiernan Ray

Database giant Oracle (ORCL) this afternoon reportedfiscal Q1 revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, but earnings per share that were a bit better than expected.

Revenue in the three months ended in August rose to $8.37 billion, yielding EPS of 59.

Analysts had been modeling $8.5 billion and 56 cents.

Oracle stock is up 61 cents, or 1.8%, at $34.33 in late trading.

Oracle’s new software license and cloud software subscriptions revenue rose 5%, year over year, to $1.65 billion, or 7% excluding the effects of foreign exchange. Software update and support revenue rose 7%, or 8% in constant-currency terms, to $4.43 billion.

Hardware systems revenue for Oracle’s data appliances such as Exalogic, fell 14%, year over year, to $669 million.

Oracle’s co-President, Mark Hurd, remarked that the company’s “engineered systems,” its hardware business, “had its best ever Q1 in terms of unit sales, growing over 60% compared with the same quarter last year.” Hurd added that revenue from new licenses were “especially strong” in the Americas, up 15% excluding currency effects.

Update: Oracle shares have given up earlier gains, as the company on the conference call projected revenue this quarter to range from down 1%, year over year, to up 2%, which is below the average estimate for a 3.5% rise. Earnings per share this quarter are seen in a range of 65 cents to 70 cents, which is slow the average non-GAAP estimate for 69 cents.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.